Evaporating apparatus.



No. 781,864. PATENTED FEB. '7, 1905. W. G. ANDERSON.

EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 25. 1904.

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m all: VE N T0 PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905.

W. C. ANDERSON.

EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION TILED FEB. 25, 1904.

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INVENTOH 2m. 4 dam Arm/m5) wmvessss UNTTED STATES Patented February '7, 1905.

WILLIAM G. ANDERSON, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

EVAPORATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 781,864, dated Iebruary 7, 1905.

Application filed February 25, 1904. Serial No. 195,163.

To It Trim/11 it 'lll/llj/ (NI/LOFT! Be it known that I, \VILLIAM O. A NDERSON. a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of ("alifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in l lvaporating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus which is especially designed for the evaporation of moisture from fruits of all kinds.

It consists of a series of furnaces disposed horizontally parallel with each other and in conjunction with each furnace of inclined tunnels adapted to receive lines of trays upon which the fruit to be dried is contained, means for introducing and removing said trays, and means for so disposing said trays with relation to the heat-inlet passages that each line of trays from the bottomupward is projected a little farther toward the entrance end of the chamber, so as to provide constantly-decreasing spaces from the bottom upward, through which the heated air enters the inclined chan nels between the superposed series of fruittrays, whereby the passage of the heat and the temperature of each series from the bottom upward will be maintained approximately the same and the drying of all the fruit will be substantially equalized.

It also comprises the relative arrangement of the heating stoves or furnaces, air-inlet passages, with relation to the passages through which the heat is delivered into the dryingchamber to insure a substantially equal heating of all the air admitted before it is delivered into the drying-chambers.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view with a part broken away to show the interior of the furnace. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the apparatus.

As shown in the drawings, A is a casing of such length and height that it will receive a plurality of drying-trays disposed one above l the other and of such width that it may be subdivided by vertical partitions 2 into a number of independent channels, each having 1 cleats, as shown at 23, secured to the sides of the partitions and serving as supports for the i trays, which are introduced into these chambers at one end and removed at the other.

The casing A and its channels and supporting-cleats stand at an incline, the lower end being located above a series of furnace-chambers t. which are preferably formed of brick or masonry work, and these furnace-chambers are subdivided by vertical partitions, as at 5, corresponding with those of the dryingchambers above. Within each of these furnace-chambers is located a furnace or heater, as at 6, and the exit-tines T of said stoves or heaters are connected with a horizontal flue 8, which extends transversely through the upper part of all the furnacechambers and connects with a discharge flue or chamber 9, exterior to one side of the furnace chambers.

The lower and discharge ends of the drying-chambers extend over the furnace-chamber, and in the bottom of each of these drying-chambers is an opening, as at ll), through which the heated air from each furnace-chamber is allowed to rise into thecorresponding subdivision of the dryiug-chamber. .In a former patent, issued to me September I, 1903, l have shown the heaters or furnaces and the air-inlet openings therefor as located at the ends of the furnace-chaml)ers, corresponding with the discharge end of the drying-chambers above. I have found that in this construction the air is apt to rise directly into the inlet-openings ll) of the heating-chambers before it is sufficiently heated to properly dry the contents of these chambers. l have therefore located the heaters at the opposite ends of the furnace-chambers and beneath the drying-chambers, so that the furnaces may be charged with fuel and the air to be heated by said furnaces admitted from the end of the fumace-chambers nearest to the ends of the drying-chambers through which the trays are introduced.

Above the stoves or heaters are 10 ated inclined direction-plates 11, and, if desired, diaphragms are located more nearly to and above the heaters, so that the air which is admitted into the furnace-chambers is maintained in contact with the heaters until its temperature is sulliciently raised for drying purposes, and

the air is not allowed to rise into the dryingchambers until itis suificiently heated for the purpose. The air is admitted into the furnace-chambers through openings preferably located at the sides of the furnace, as shown at 12, and thus first comes in contact with the heaters at the lower part, rising gradually over the upper and more highly heated part and also in contact with the escape-fines of the heaters, it becomes sufiiciently heated, and by means of the diverting and direction plates it will be delivered into the lower ends of the drying-chambers through the inlet-passages 10, as previously described.

The tendency of the heated air is to rise rapidly to the upper part of any open space, and I have found the result of this to be that without some regulating means the upper portion of the drying-chambers will be much more highly heated than the lower portion and the tendency of the heated air will be to pass through the upper passages between the trays, thus heating the upper part to too great a temperature and leaving the lower trays not sufficiently heated for drying purposes. In order to correct this tendency, I arrange the trays as follows: The trays themselves are introduced into the drying-chambers through gates or doors, as at 1-1, from a suitable room 15 at the upper end of the drying-tunnel. These gates 1 1 may be as many in number as may be desired, being disposed vertically one above the other, so that a plurality of trays in the lower part, in the middle, and upper part may be disposed for operation at any time without interfering with the drying of the trays in the other portionswhere the doors remain closed. At the lower discharge end of the drying-tunnels are similar doors, as at 16, opening into a room, as at 17, into which the trays containing the dried fruit are removed as fast as they are ready to be discharged. Thus the trays which are fitted to slide upon the cleats 3 are pushed in from the upper end, and by reason of the inclination of the supporting-cleats and drying-chamber they are easily pushed along, each one push ing the one in front of it by pressure applied to the rearmost ones until the drying-chambers are properly filled and drying-tunnels are created. The trays are not pushed to the lower end of the drying chambers or tunnels; but the uppermost trays are pushed to a point where suflicient heated air will pass into the spaces between them to insure their drying. The next trays below do not extend as far down as the uppermost ones, and in the same manner each series of trays from the top downward is retracted from the discharge end of the tunnels, so that the space for hot air entering the uppermost passages will be less, measured from the discharge end of the tunnel to the end of the tray, than the next one below,and the distance from the discharge end of the drying-tunnel to the lowermost of the trays will be the greatest, as plainly shown in the drawings at 18, and this is irrespective of the vertical distances between the trays, which distance may be such as to insure the proper passage of the heated air from one end to the other without its becoming so cooled by contact with the cool green fruit as to interfere with the draft proper for a constant conduction of the moisture from the drying-tunnel. In order to insure the proper draft, I have shown chimneys or air-draft lines 19 located at the higher end of the apparatus and connecting with the drying-tunnels. These chimneys or flues are independent of each other, each one being connected with one of the series of drying-tunnels and with the corresponding furnace-chamber thereof, so that the draft through each of.

the furnace-chambers and drying-tunnels can be controlled by suitably-disposed gates or valves. In this manner I am enabled to accurately control the supply of heated air and to insure its delivery into the proper chambers and tunnels through the dryingapparatus.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

An improved fruit and like drying apparatus having in combination a main casing inclined from the upper or receiving to the lower or discharge end, and having a transverse series of vertical longitudinal partitions and inclined cleats thereon, closed bottom fruit-trays adapted to rest upon said cleats with their ends in contact so as to divide the chambers into successive superposed dryingtunnels, a furnace-chamber located belowthe lower and discharge end of each tunnel, a'furnace-casing having air-flues at the sides of each furnace and horizontal plates over the furnaces and forming'the top of the flues said flues delivering the heated air toward the low est end of the inclined casing and said furnaces having their charging-door at the rear of the furnace-chamber and toward the upper or inlet end of the main casing, directingplatesin the furnace-chambers, secured to and inclining upwardly from the rear wall thereof in the direction of the discharge end of the main casing, and inlet-passages to each series of superposed drying-tunnels, the lower of said passages being longest between the ends of the trays and the discharge ends of the chamber, and gradually decreasing in length from the bottom upward.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM (J. ANDERSON. Witnesses:

J. R. PHELPS, IV. H. STACY. 

